Housemates
by dreamsofyesterday1
Summary: A standalone story. When Robbie's lair is flooded he has to swallow his pride and ask the people he loathes the most for help. Will they help him willingly or will humourous consequences follow? Dedicated to 18lzytwner for all her reviews and help
1. The flood

Housemates

Disclaimer: All usual disclaimers apply.

Water lapped around his knees and he was extremely unhappy about it. He'd been woken up by a strange sound and before he knew it his lair was flooded. Robbie hated water, he couldn't swim and because of this flood he'd have to find alternative lodgings until it was sorted. The trouble was that he didn't know where to go. He had nowhere to go that he knew of. Reluctantly he decided to leave the lair and seek assistance in the town. He knew they'd laugh at him when he told them about this incident, not that they didn't laugh at him already.

Bessie looked up from her paperwork when she heard an extremely strange noise coming towards the town hall. It sounded like wet shoes that squelch every time a step is taken; looking out of the window she saw that it was still a lovely day outside, how could someone have wet shoes when the sun is shining and there isn't a cloud in the sky? Before Bessie could go back to her paperwork the door of the town hall was thrown open and in walked a bedraggled and extremely grumpy looking Robbie Rotten. Bessie suppressed a chuckle at the sight of Robbie but it came out as more of an undignified snort.

"Where is the Mayor?" Robbie asked pointing a finger threateningly at Bessie.

The sight of a drop of water falling from Robbie's finger rocked Bessie's composure and she burst out laughing, "He's there," she managed to choke and pointed behind Robbie.

Robbie turned round and saw the Mayor staring at him with utter amazement. The Mayor then turned and looked out of the door to see if it been raining without his noticing it, seeing that the ground was bone dry he turned to Robbie again and resumed his staring. At this point Robbie was fuming, he was angry enough already but could abide no further nuisances.

"If you're wondering why I'm wet it's because my lair is flooded. Seeing as it doesn't rain underground I'm assuming that a water pipe broke somewhere. As my lair is flooded I've been forced to find alternative accommodation which is why I'm here."

"What do you want us to do about it?" Bessie asked.

Robbie snarled at Bessie and turned back to the Mayor, "I thought that seeing as you're supposed to be the Mayor this town you might be able to do something."

"Erm, I'm sure I can do something. I'll have to think of it though. Can you come back in half an hour?" The mayor said coming back to his senses.

Robbie just growled in response and stormed out, slamming the door behind him. The Mayor looked at Bessie and shrugged. Going to sit at his desk the Mayor pondered what he'd do about Robbie's problem.

The kids were laughing and playing as was their usual way but stopped in their tracks when they saw a still soaking Robbie stomping about. The children didn't know whether to laugh at or feel concerned for Robbie, he seemed so distracted and was obviously extremely upset about something. None of them had ever seen Robbie like this and as much as it was almost funny it was also very worrying. Plucking up enough courage to ask Robbie what was wrong but came running back after getting half way over to him when he fixed her with a look that said 'don't come any closer or you're in trouble'. The other kids had seen the look also and decided to resume their playing some distance from Robbie so not to disturb him.

The Mayor's half an hour was almost up and he'd managed to decide on a solution to Robbie's problem but it was an awkward one at best and was unlikely to be popular. He'd decided that Robbie would have to stay with someone in Lazytown and that the others would draw lots as to who that person should be. The person with the shortest straw would have to put Robbie up until something could be done with his lair.

Putting each of the straws in his hand the Mayor ventured outside with Bessie and directed her to pull the lever to raise the podium. As soon as the podium was raised all the kids and Robbie came over to see what was going on. Sportacus joined them as well; he'd been looking over the town with his telescope and guessed something important was happening.

"Everyone, I have an announcement to make. Earlier today Robbie's lair flooded and I've come upon a solution to his problem. We all know that Robbie can't stay in his lair with the water there so I've decided that Robbie will have to stay with someone in Lazytown until we can fix the problem. I have some straws in my hand and the person that picks the shortest straw has to have Robbie in their house."

This announcement caused some murmurs between the kids and they all hoped that they didn't draw the short straw. The Mayor stepped down from the podium and everyone except Robbie formed a line to pick their straw. Pixel was first, then Ziggy, Trixie, Stephanie and then Bessie. Bessie put her hand to her mouth in shock when she saw she had the shortest straw.

An hour later Bessie showed Robbie through the front door of her house. She still couldn't believe she'd drawn the short straw and Robbie was none to pleased with it also. Part of him was glad that it wasn't Sportacus that had pulled the short straw but the downside was that he didn't like Bessie and had to spend however long it took to fix his lair with her. As much as he hated water he'd considered taking his chances with it rather than Bessie.

After Bessie had showed Robbie round the house and where everything he needed to use was she went back to the town hall. She didn't want to spend much more time with Robbie than was absolutely necessary.

Bessie came home two hours later and decided she'd take shower. She'd all but forgotten that Robbie was staying in her house and going into the bathroom ran the shower and then went into her bedroom to get undressed. Bessie came out of her bedroom five minutes later wearing nothing but a bath robe. She entered the bathroom and screamed when she saw Robbie standing naked in her shower.


	2. Unclean!

Robbie turned round when he heard Bessie scream and seeing her standing there screamed himself. They stood screaming at each other for what seemed an age before Robbie tried to hide his manhood behind a loofer he'd grabbed from a hook on the wall.

Hearing all the screaming and thinking something was dreadfully wrong the Mayor and Sportacus came running into Bessie's house and saw the scene in the bathroom. The Mayor was trying to contain his laughter while he handed Robbie a towel. Robbie snatched the towel from the Mayor's hand and stormed out of the bathroom. Slamming the door behind him Robbie inadvertently shut the back of his towel in the door so when he walked a few steps away from it the towel didn't follow. The kids who'd heard the screaming had come to the house and were greeted with Robbie standing buff naked in the corridor. Stephanie opened her mouth and eyes wide in shock and all the others did the same. Robbie looked down and saw exactly what the kids were looking at, his cheeks turned furiously red.

"Hi kids, I _didn't _mean to do that." Robbie said in a shy fashion. Robbie then grabbed his towel and ran into the nearest room with a door, slamming it hard.

The kids stood in shocked silence for some time after Robbie had gone and Pixel was sure he'd been scarred for life. Walking slowly out of the front door like a small group of zombies, the kids tried to find some way of removing the picture of Robbie naked from their heads.

Sportacus left the bathroom when he was sure that Bessie had been sufficiently calmed and went in search of Robbie. Hearing a great deal of rustling and bustling Sportacus went over to the door Robbie had gone through and put his ear to it. He was about to gently knock on the door when it flew open and out came a rather hastily dressed Robbie.

Sportacus looked into the room and saw that Robbie had left his waistcoat behind. Grabbing the waistcoat from the bed Sportacus ran to catch up with Robbie. Sportacus looked around when he left the house and quickly spotted Robbie.

"Robbie! Wait! You left your waistcoat behind," Sportacus called running up to him.

Robbie turned at his name being called and when he saw Sportacus had his waistcoat in his hand he looked down and realised he'd forgotten to put it on. Things weren't going Robbie's way at all today and he was quickly getting fed up with it. The worst part of the day so far was the whole town seeing him naked which would be hard to forget and live down.

Sportacus caught up with Robbie in no time at all and handed Robbie his waistcoat which was accepted gratefully. Sportacus was going to ask Robbie something but didn't know what kind of answer he'd get. Robbie was still fuming but either way the question had to be asked.

"Robbie, would you like to stay with me in the airship for a few days until your lair is fixed?"

Robbie's jaw hit the ground at this question. Promptly picking his jaw up Robbie was about to give a scathing answer but thought better of it when he thought of his situation. In a reluctant and not overly enthusiastic manner Robbie shrugged and then nodded his head. Robbie didn't like the idea but he had no choice, little did he know that Sportacus wasn't exactly looking forward to it either. He'd asked Robbie purely out of the goodness of his heart and wondered how long they'd be able to tolerate each other.

Ten minutes later Sportacus and Robbie were stood in the airship. Robbie looked about with disdain at the brightness of the room and bland colours that decorated it. Robbie had been in the airship once or twice before and had never had the chance to fully study it before. Apart from the piloting station everything was tucked away in alcoves in the walls and made everything look quite boring if not disgustingly tidy. Robbie grimaced when he came upon a rather unwelcome realisation.

"What are the sleeping arrangements going to be? You only have one bed don't you?" Robbie muttered knowing and fearing the answer.

"There is only one bed and we'll have to share it unless you want to sleep on the floor." Sportacus spoke in a deadpan tone; he was serious about Robbie sleeping on the floor. He wouldn't trust him sleeping in the piloting station and wouldn't sleep there himself.

Eventually Robbie agreed to share the bed, it was getting late and after his earlier ordeal he was tired. He let Sportacus choose which side of the bed he wanted to sleep on and slept on the other. Once they had agreed on sides Robbie jumped into bed while Sportacus did some last minute exercises until it was time for him to go to bed.

Sportacus crept up to the bed and got in his side very gently so as not to wake the soundly sleeping Robbie. Sportacus covered himself with his half of the duvet but felt it sharply snatched away seconds later. He turned to see Robbie hogging the duvet and Robbie seemed completely unaware of what he was doing. Sportacus tugged softly at the duvet to get back his half and laid down when he'd managed to get it. Yet again the duvet was pulled away from him and he sat up shaking his head. This routine happened several times before Sportacus' patience were exhausted. Giving an almighty pull Sportacus wrenched the duvet from Robbie's hands with so much force that both men fell out of the bed and onto the floor. Sportacus got back into bed and looked over the other side to see if Robbie was awake after being propelled out of the bed, he was surprised to see that Robbie was still fast asleep. Sportacus shook his head and then went back to sleep ensconced comfortably in his duvet.

Robbie woke up with the sun the next morning. Looking around him Robbie tried to remember how he'd managed to get on the floor. He was sure he'd been sleeping in the bed the night before and was confused about his transition from bed to floor. Looking around Robbie could see that Sportacus was already up and was doing his exercises. Robbie watched Sportacus with a plain look of disgust on his face. He couldn't understand what possessed Sportacus with the idea that doing healthy stuff was fun, for Robbie it was painful.

Sportacus noticed Robbie looking at him and stopped his exercises. Both men stared at each other for what seemed like ages trying to figure out why they did what they did. Sportacus couldn't understand how Robbie could be so lazy and Robbie couldn't understand why Sportacus had to be so active. They were complete opposites.


	3. Moving again

Sportacus was distracted from staring at Robbie by a letter shooting through the floor. He grabbed the canister and opened it. Reading the first few lines of the letter he handed it to Robbie.

"It's for you," Sportacus said holding out the letter for Robbie to take.

Robbie got up from the floor and took the letter from Sportacus without saying thanks. Robbie read the letter and wanted to jump up and down with glee. It said that people were coming in a day to fix the pipe and drain the lair of all the water that had flooded it. Robbie's face fell when he read the part that said the whole process would take four days. Losing his patience Robbie screwed up the letter and tossed it into a corner. He couldn't stay with Sportacus another four days, it was impossible!

Sportacus didn't have to ask Robbie what the letter said when he saw Robbie's reaction to it. Sportacus could feel a sinking feeling in the pit of his stomach, another four nights sharing a bed with Robbie Rotten the cover snatcher. Sportacus didn't know how he'd get around this little eventuality but decided he'd just have to put up with it. What was another four days anyhow?

Two days later Robbie and Sportacus stormed into the town hall. Both were arguing about something and managed to have a long enough break in their argument to say hello to Bessie and the Mayor. The Mayor watched this scene with great amusement and also some surprise. He'd never known Sportacus to openly argue with anyone, especially Robbie Rotten.

"Can we help you two?" Bessie butted into the argument.

Robbie turned and faced Bessie with a level stare, "_You_ can't help anyone. Go away."

"Don't tell Bessie to go away! She just asked you a question and a helpful one too." Sportacus objected and then turned to Bessie, "Yes, you can help me." Sportacus stated calmly and then shouted, "Get him out of my airship!"

Bessie and the Mayor were both taken aback by this. They'd never known Sportacus to be like this, it seemed that Robbie had far outstayed his welcome and had been grating on Sportacus nerves.

"I'd be all too happy to leave your airship, Sportakook. There's only the only problem of my having nowhere else to go." Robbie shouted at Sportacus in response and then turned to face the Mayor, "What do you suggest we do?"

"You're not staying with me again. Not after the last time." Bessie interrupted the Mayor before he could say anything.

Robbie yet again levelled a stare at Bessie, "I wasn't asking _you_, go away!"

With Robbie telling Bessie to go away again another argument broke out between Sportacus and Robbie and it was a long while before the Mayor could get a word in edge ways.

"I don't know how to resolve this situation and can only suggest doing what we did before, pulling straws. This time it would be with the exception of you, Sportacus, and Bessie." The Mayor decided.

"No, no, no, no, no. I'm not going to stay with any of the kids. There is no way I'm agreeing with the straws again." Robbie objected.

"I'm afraid that you have no choice Mr Rotten. Unless you'd like to go back to your lair while the repair work is being done you have to accept what we can offer you."

Robbie snorted and said sarcastically, "I have a better idea. Why don't I stay with you for the two days there is left until my lair is fixed?"

"If that's what it takes Mr Rotten. It is after all going to be for two days and I think I can cope with that." The Mayor replied not sounding as confident as he would have liked.

With the current dilemma resolved Robbie stormed off. Sportacus stayed behind and stared at the Mayor in surprise with Bessie. He wasn't sure that Robbie staying at the Mayor's house was such a good idea.

Stephanie was sitting in her room writing in her diary when she heard someone knock on the door. Thinking it was her friends she ran to the door eagerly and opened it just the same way. Her face fell when she saw Robbie standing in front of her.

"Can I come in?" Robbie asked impatiently with his arms folded.

"Why?"

"Because your uncle said I could stay here until my lair is fixed. Now get out of the way little girl so I can come in."

Stephanie didn't quite know what to do. She didn't know if Robbie was telling the truth or not and didn't know whether it was wise to let him in until her uncle came home. Her questions were soon answered when she saw her uncle walking over and he told her to let Robbie pass.

As Robbie entered the house he stuck his tongue out at the little pink girl. He didn't expect her to stick her tongue right back out at him in response but she did. Instead of falling into a pointless game with her he just snarled and sat himself down in a chair.


	4. Dinner, Dancing and Bed time

The three people in the house ate in silence. No one spoke because they couldn't think of anything civil to say and all previous attempts of conversation between Stephanie and her uncle had been cut off by Robbie. He'd either interrupted them or taken over their conversations completely and suggested that silence was the best topic to talk about.

Stephanie ate her dinner a little faster than usual. She wanted to finish it quickly so she could be excused from the table faster and retreat to her room. She'd be safe there. There was little chance that Robbie would venture into her room so she could write in her diary and listen to her music in peace. She'd also be able to practice some dance steps she'd learnt recently.

When everyone had finished eating their main meal the Mayor got up from the table and went to fetch dessert. Stephanie accidentally caught Robbie's eye and he pulled a face at her. Not willing to back down from a challenge she pulled a face back. For the next two minutes she and Robbie pulled a multitude of faces at each other.

Robbie had to admit that the little pink girl could give as good as she got. It seemed to him that he'd misjudged her. Perhaps she was only a good little girl when Sportacus was around but when he wasn't she could be rotten. This little notion planted itself in his head and he began to formulate another plan which could make Sportacus leave forever.

"Stephanie! Stop pulling faces at Robbie," The Mayor scorned when he saw what had been going on behind his back.

Caught out Stephanie stopped and looked up at her uncle, "Sorry uncle. Can I be excused?"

"You can be excused when you've eaten your dessert."

Stephanie pulled another face but this time it wasn't directed at Robbie, it was directed at the bowl of strawberry ice cream which had just been put in front of her. After staring at it for some minutes wishing it would go away she ate it. She had no choice, no matter how hard she stared at it, it wouldn't disappear. After she'd wolfed down the nearly melted ice cream her request to be excused was granted.

After twenty minutes of writing in her diary about the horrible man Robbie Rotten was she decided to play some music to take her mind off of who was in the house with them. It would help her relax and would later give her a chance to practice the dance steps she'd been waiting to practice. Hopping off of her bed she went over to her 'boom box' and turned it on. After pressing play to start the CD she had in there she went back to sit on her bed.

Robbie stormed into the room and pressed the stop button on Stephanie's boom box. "Too loud."

"Turn it back on,"

"No."

"Now."

When Robbie didn't respond Stephanie jumped up and pressed play on the boom box. Robbie pressed stop again and she pressed play. Several relays of play/stop warfare occurred before the boom box started to make some very unhealthy sounding noises. Both of them stopped pressing the buttons and watched as a small wisp of smoke trailed up into the air.

The boom box was no more.

Completely fed up with Robbie being in her room, in her house and her life Stephanie pushed him out of the room and slammed the door. After inspecting her boom box she was sure Pixel could fix it for her, if he couldn't Robbie was in big trouble. Still annoyed about what had happened she stomped over to her bed and scribbled out what she'd written about Robbie being a 'big softie'. She didn't know what had possessed her to write it.

After three hours of watching Robbie sulk and listening to him moaning and complaining the Mayor had had enough. It amazed him how Sportacus had put up with him for so long. Another day of undiluted Robbie Rotten would be unbearable, there was nothing for him to do but sit it out. In his head he kept repeating that it was only twenty four hours, only another twenty fours. The one respite he got from this number was that for a substantial proportion of those hours Robbie would be asleep. Moving on this thought he decided it was time to attempt to reclaim some of the peace in his house.

"Mr Rotten?" The Mayor asked expectantly.

"What?"

"I don't know if you're tired yet but I think it would be a good idea to show you to your room."

Grumbling something under his breath Robbie stood up and folded his arms. An impatient frown wrinkled his forehead and he glared at the Mayor trying to get him to move. This display of typically rotten behaviour did the trick and he followed the Mayor out of the living room into the hallway.

Following the Mayor down the hallway he was shown the guest bedroom. Walking into the room he looked around. The walls were a fairly plain colour and this wasn't a room that was used often. Going over to the bed he sat on it before lying down on it.

Pulling a face he got up, "Too lumpy,"

Not content to sleep on a lumpy bed Robbie walked past the Mayor, back out into the hallway and into the next room. It was the Mayor's. Going over to the bed he tried that one too.

Again he pulled a face and got up, "Too bumpy,"

Pushing past the Mayor who had just come into the room Robbie walked further down the hallway to the next room, it was Stephanie's. Opening the door he ignored the girl sitting at her dressing table writing in her diary and tried out her bed.

"Lovely." He sighed and fell straight to sleep.

Stephanie stared with wide open eyes and mouth. This could not be happening, Robbie Rotten asleep in her bed. She couldn't believe it. For a start it was more than a little embarrassing and she'd never live it down. Annoyed with Robbie she picked up her nightclothes and stomped over to her bedroom door and out into the corridor. To get back at Robbie she slammed the door as hard as she could.

Stephanie slamming the door didn't wake Robbie. He stirred slightly but that was only to put his thumb securely in his mouth.


End file.
